This Vegan Pad Thai is made with fresh simple ingredients like bean sprouts, garlic, and lime juice. It’s a healthy vegan noodle dish that takes less than 30 minutes to make! 

a bowl of vegan pad thai in a bowl on a white marble board

What is Pad Thai?

Pad Thai is a traditional stir-fried noodle dish served in Thailand. It’s commonly served as street-food or in restaurants all throughout Thailand. One of my favourite experiences was learning how to cook an authentic Pad Thai in Thailand.

A Vegan Pad Thai doesn’t use all the same ingredients as a traditional recipe, so this is my personal take on a traditional Pad Thai recipe based on my learnings from cooking classes in Thailand.

The key to a great Pad Thai recipe is to have the proper balance of sweet, salty, sour and spicy flavours. We achieve this balance through using soy sauce, coconut sugar and lime juice. 

If you’re looking to create a whole Thai-inspired feast, these Thai Peanut Cauliflower Wings and this Thai Mango Salad would create a whole plate’s worth of colour and flavour to transport your taste buds to Thailand.

a bowl of vegan pad thai on a grey napkin with a side of cilantro

Is Pad Thai vegan?

This recipe for Pad Thai is a take of a traditional Pad Thai recipe from Thailand.

Traditionally, Pad Thai is not vegan since it’s made using fish sauce, eggs, and often times in Thailand even find dried shrimp.

Luckily for us, Pad Thai is easy to make vegan!

The main replacement is to use soy sauce in place of fish sauce. All the other sauce ingredients stay the same and you will end up with an equally delicious Pad Thai!

a close up image of vegan pad thai with tofu and sliced scallions on top

How to make vegan pad thai

Cook up the tofu in a pan with some oil. Once the tofu is cooked, push it off to the side (so it’s off the heat), and add the noodles to the pan.

  • tofu cut into cubes in a frying pan
  • tou and rice noodles in a frying pan with a hand pouring soy sauce into the pan

After the noodles, add the seasoning and sauce. Toss everything up together, and serve with crushed peanuts and lime.

  • tofu, rice noodles and beansprouts in a pan with a wooden spoon
  • a pan filled with vegan pad Thai being scooped up with tongs

Pad Thai is BEST served immediately after cooking, so it’s not a dish you want to leave sitting around for 10-15 minutes on the stove. Enjoy it right away!

Tips for making this recipe perfectly

  • Use extra-firm tofu and a non-stick pan to fry the tofu. This will make sure it gets nice and crispy and doesn’t stick to your pan.
  • Don’t fully cook your rice noodles before adding them to the pan! They will continue to cook as your stir-fry, so you want them to be slightly firm with a little bite to them.
  • Use a bit of water or vegetable stock to loosen up your Pad Thai if it the noodles start getting stuck together.
  • Eat right away! Pad Thai is best enjoyed straight out of the pan, so don’t let it sit on the table for too long otherwise the noodles will start sticking together.
vegan pad thai in a ceramic bowl with sliced scallions and a wedge of lime

More Thai recipes to try

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vegan pad thai

Vegan Pad Thai

★★★★★ 5 from 7 reviews
  • Author: Jess
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 10 minutes
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 2 servings 1x
  • Category: Entree
  • Method: Cook
  • Cuisine: Thai
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Description

A simple Pad Thai recipe that is easy to make and takes less than 30 minutes!

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1/2 pack rice noodles (approx 7 oz)
  • 1/2 block of extra-firm tofu, cut into small cubes
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1/4 cup-1/2 cup water
  • 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
  • 1 large handful garlic chives (can sub regular chives)
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce (gf if needed) 
  • 1 tbsp coconut sugar (can sub agave, maple syrup)
  • juice of 1/2 lime
  • 1 cup bean sprouts
  • 1 green onion, chopped
  • crushed peanuts, lime & cilantro for serving

Instructions

  1. Boil the rice noodles in a pot of water until tender, but not too soft (they should still be slightly undercooked. Drain and set aside.
  2. Heat the vegetable oil in a non-stick pan on medium high heat then add the tofu and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden brown.
  3. Push the tofu to the side of the pan, turn the heat to medium and add the garlic noodles, garlic chives, soy sauce, coconut sugar and lime juice to the pan.
  4. Slowly add some water to the pan, 1-2 tbsp at a time to prevent the noodles from sticking and allowing to cook fully through.
  5. Turn the heat to low and add the bean sprouts and green onion and mix together.
  6. Top with crushed peanuts, cilantro and a lime wedge to serve.

Notes

Use extra-firm tofu and a non-stick pan to fry the tofu to get nice crispy tofu that doesn’t stick to the pan. 

Don’t fully cook the noodles before adding them to the pan! They will continue to cook as you stir-fry them so you want them to be slightly undercooked before adding them in. 

If you’re noodles start to stick together, use some water or veggie stock to losen them up. 

Pad Thai tastes best if you eat it immediately after cooking! 

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1/3 recipe
  • Calories: 265
  • Sugar: 6g
  • Sodium: 600mg
  • Fat: 13g
  • Saturated Fat: 2g
  • Carbohydrates: 50g
  • Fiber: 3g
  • Protein: 8g

Keywords: Vegan pad thai, tofu pad thai, Vegetarian pad Thai

If you tried this Vegan Pad Thai or any other recipe on the blog let me know how you liked it by leaving a comment/rating below! Be sure to follow along on Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook for even more deliciousness!